Learn about asking about what something is like
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: ナオミです。 (Naomi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here. The Desert. ナオミ先生 (Naomi sensei) |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: 日本語で Desert 何と言いますか？ (Nihongo de Desert nan to iimasu ka?) |
| Naomi: 砂漠 (sabaku) |
| Peter: Desert. One more time nice and slow. |
| Naomi: さ・ば・く「砂漠」 (Saba ku `sabaku') |
| Peter: So Naomi-sensei, this is a tough one. Are there any deserts in Japan? 日本には砂漠がありますか？ (Nihon ni wa sabaku ga arimasu ka?) |
| Naomi: はい。あります。 (Hai. Arimasu.) |
| Peter: There is? |
| Naomi: Yes but that one is not called as 砂漠 (sabaku), it’s called 砂丘 (sakyū) more like dune. |
| Peter: Ah if that’s what you are talking about, I know where that is. |
| Naomi: 鳥取砂丘 (Tottori sakyū) |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Naomi: Have you ever been there? |
| Peter: Never been there but we had a listener who has been there and sent us pictures. |
| Naomi: ああ、本当に。きれいですよね。 (Ā, hontōni. Kirei desu yo ne.) Very beautiful. |
| Peter: Yes it’s very, very beautiful. Now I will switch topics. Sorry Naomi-sensei, I kind of blew over that but yeah it’s not even called desert 砂漠 (sabaku). It’s called something else. So this word must have originated from China because there they have a quite large desert. |
| Naomi: ああ、そうですね。 (Ā, sō desu ne.) 日本は desert はないですね。 (Nihon wa dezāto wanai desu ne.) Dune だけですね。 (Dune dake desu ne.) |
| Peter: Very interesting. So today but today we are going to be talking about desert or deserts and the conversation is between who? |
| Naomi: アズサ (azusa) I think she is a student and 先生 (sensei) |
| Peter: The teacher |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: So we will be using what kind of Japanese? |
| Naomi: Azusa is using polite and sensei, the teacher, is using casual or informal. |
| Peter: All right. So let’s see what’s going on in this conversation. Here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| アズサ:先生、砂漠ってどんな所ですか。 |
| Azusa: Sensei, sabaku tte donna tokoro desu ka. |
| 先生:砂漠かあ。どうしてだ？ |
| Sensei: Sabaku kā. Dō shite da? |
| アズサ:面白そうだから、砂漠に行ってみたいんです。 |
| Azusa: Omoshiro sō da kara, sabaku ni itte mitai n desu. |
| 先生:大変な所だぞ。暑いし、乾燥するし、雨は降らないし、夜は寒いし。 |
| Sensei: Taihen na tokoro da zo. Atsui shi, kansō suru shi, ame wa furanai shi, yoru wa samui shi. |
| アズサ:のどがカラカラになっても水が飲めないんですか。 |
| Azusa: Nodo ga karakara ni natte mo mizu ga nomenai n desu ka. |
| 先生:難しいかもしれないな。 |
| Sensei: Muzukashii kamo shirenai na. |
| アズサ:そんなー。先生、私やっぱり行きたくないです。 |
| Azusa: Sonnā. Sensei, watashi yappari ikitakunai desu. |
| もう一度お願いします。ゆっくりお願いします。 |
| (Mōichido onegaishimasu. Yukkuri onegaishimasu.) |
| ＜繰り返し＞ () |
| 今度は英語が入ります。 |
| (Kondo wa eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| アズサ:先生、砂漠ってどんな所ですか。 |
| Azusa: Sensei, sabaku tte donna tokoro desu ka. |
| Alisa:Teacher, what kind of place is the desert? |
| 先生:砂漠かあ。どうしてだ？ |
| Sensei: Sabaku kā. Dō shite da? |
| Teacher:The desert...Why (do you ask)? |
| アズサ:面白そうだから、砂漠に行ってみたいんです。 |
| Azusa: Omoshiro sō da kara, sabaku ni itte mitai n desu. |
| Alisa:Because it seems interesting, I want to go to the desert to see what it's like. |
| 先生:大変な所だぞ。暑いし、乾燥するし、雨は降らないし、夜は寒いし。 |
| Sensei: Taihen na tokoro da zo. Atsui shi, kansō suru shi, ame wa furanai shi, yoru wa samui shi. |
| Teacher:The desert is a harsh place. It's hot and dry. It doesn't rain, and the nights are cold. |
| アズサ:のどがカラカラになっても水が飲めないんですか。 |
| Azusa: Nodo ga karakara ni natte mo mizu ga nomenai n desu ka. |
| Alisa:If you are dying of thirst, can you find water to drink? |
| 先生:難しいかもしれないな。 |
| Sensei: Muzukashii kamo shirenai na. |
| Teacher:That might be difficult. |
| アズサ:そんなー。先生、私やっぱり行きたくないです。 |
| Azusa: Sonnā. Sensei, watashi yappari ikitakunai desu |
| Alisa:It's like that. Teacher, I don't want to go after all. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: ナオミ先生、こんな会話どう思いましたか？ (Naomi sensei, kon'na kaiwa dō omoimashita ka?) |
| Naomi: 私は砂漠には行きたくないです。 (Watashi wa sabaku ni wa ikitakunai desu.) |
| Peter: So you don’t want to go to a desert? |
| Naomi: No 絶対に嫌ですね。 (Zettai ni iya desu ne.) |
| Peter: ナオミ先生。 (Naomi sensei.) |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: How would we say, let me remind you in Japanese? |
| Naomi: 思い出してもらいます。 (Omoide shite moraimasu.) |
| Peter: 思い出してもらいます？ (Omoide shite moraimasu?) That’s like, “please remember for me.” |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Interesting. |
| Naomi: Or ちょっといいですか？ (Chotto ii desu ka?) it is, yeah I want to say something. |
| Peter: ちょっといいですか？ (Chotto ii desu ka?) |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: That works for everything, doesn’t it? |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: ちょっといいですか？ (Chotto ii desu ka?) |
| Naomi: Let me remind you. You can translate into Japanese but we don’t usually say that. |
| Peter: Yeah in English, I guess it’s so forceful, “let me remind you.” |
| Naomi: はあ。一言いいですか？ (Hā. Hitokoto ii desu ka?) |
| Peter: Yeah 一言いいですか？ (Hitokoto ii desu ka?) or I like 思い出してもらえますか？ (Omoide shite moraemasu ka?) |
| Naomi: Yeah 思い出してもらえますか？ いいですね。 (Omoide shite moraemasu ka? ii desu ne.) |
| Peter: “Can you remember for me?” That’s so nice. |
| Naomi: そうですね。そうですね。 (sō desu ne. sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: ナオミ先生。思い出してもらえますか？ (Naomi sensei. Omoide shite moraemasu ka?) |
| Naomi: 何をでしょう？ (Nani odeshou?) |
| Peter: ラスベガスも砂漠にあります。 (Rasubegasu mo sabaku ni arimasu.) |
| Naomi: あっ！ (A~tsu!) |
| Peter: Las Vegas is also in the desert. |
| Naomi: 忘れました。ああ、そうですね。あの、モダンな砂漠だったら (Wasuremashita. Ā, sō desu ne. Ano, modan na sabaku dattara) I’d love to go |
| Peter: To a modern desert. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) But I don’t want to go to the authentic desert. |
| Peter: The traditional. |
| Naomi: Traditional 伝統的な砂漠には行きたくないですね。 (Dentō-tekina sabaku ni wa ikitakunai desu ne.) |
| Peter: 伝統的な砂漠ですね。 (Dentō-tekina sabaku desu ne.) |
| Naomi: そうですね。本当の砂漠ですね。絶対に嫌です。 (sō desu ne. Hontō no sabaku desu ne. Zettai ni iya desu.) |
| Peter: Okay. Yeah, so we have the modern desert and the traditional desert but yes like I don’t know. There are some really interesting things going on in the desert. So anybody out there who lives in a desert メールお願いします。 (Mēru onegaishimasu.) Let’s convince Naomi-sensei about what’s the 砂漠のいいところ。 (Sabaku no ī tokoro.) What’s so good about the desert? |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: I kind of like the desert. |
| Naomi: ああ、そうですか。じゃあ、お願いします。説得してください (Ā, sō desu ka. Jā, onegaishimasu. Settoku shite kudasai) Please convince me. |
| Peter: All right. Let’s take a look at the vocab. What do we have first? |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Naomi: 砂漠 (sabaku) |
| Peter: Desert. |
| Naomi: さ・ば・く「砂漠」 (Saba ku `sabaku') |
| Peter: Followed by |
| Naomi: 乾燥する (kansō suru) |
| Peter: Dry, to dry. |
| Naomi: か・ん・そ・う・す・る「乾燥する」 (Ka n-so u suru `kansō suru') |
| Peter: All right. And now on to the conversation. Naomi-sensei, first line お願いします (onegaishimasu). |
| Naomi: 先生、砂漠ってどんな所ですか？ (Sensei, sabaku tte donna tokoro desu ka?) |
| Peter: What do we have first here? |
| Naomi: 先生 (sensei) |
| Peter: So calling for the teacher’s attention. This is followed by |
| Naomi: 砂漠って (sabaku tte) |
| Peter: The desert, pause, is how we would interpret this. Now, this て (te) here is acting almost like what? |
| Naomi: は (wa) |
| Peter: The topic marking particle, but Naomi-sensei, what do you think is the difference between てand は (wa). What do you think a real prominent or big difference between the two is? |
| Naomi: 砂漠はどんな所ですか？ (Sabaku wa don'na tokoro desu ka?) It’s a simple question and 砂漠ってどんな所ですか？ (Sabaku tte donna tokoro desu ka?) it sounds like the word 砂漠 (sabaku) is new to アズサ (azusa). |
| Peter: Yeah showing kind of like her interest in it and she is contemplating maybe what to put next. So it kind of emphasizes the topic. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: And in this case kind of gives her a bit more time to really think about what she is going to say as opposed to when we introduced は (wa), it was a very familiar term to her. So it was just a very straightforward question. So kind of like she is very curious about this. It’s showing her curiosity. |
| Naomi: うん。そうでしょうね。 (Un. Sō deshou ne.) |
| Peter: This is followed by |
| Naomi: どんな所ですか？ (Donna tokoro desu ka?) |
| Peter: So literally “teacher, desert, what kind of place is?” Question, what kind of place is the desert. And again, if we start right after the て, we have “what kind of place is,” then jump back to the desert. “Teacher, what kind of place is the desert,” followed by |
| Naomi: 砂漠かあ。 (Sabaku ka a.) |
| Peter: The desert. Hmm…Now again, this is in casual situations. If you are in a business meeting or you know in the classroom and the teacher says, 昨日、何をやりましたか？ (Kinō, nani o yarimashita ka?) you don’t really want to follow up with 昨日かあ (kinō ka a). It kind of shows that you have a higher social status than the teacher. So umm informal Japanese here. The teacher is in a higher position than the student. So the teacher can say this. |
| Naomi: どうしてだ？ (Dōshite da?) |
| Peter: Why? What’s the polite form here? |
| Naomi: どうしてですか？ (Dōshite desu ka?) |
| Peter: And it gets shortened to だ (da). Now if this was just written and you couldn’t see the name of the teacher, would you assume that this teacher is a male or female speaker? |
| Naomi: That’s a male. |
| Peter: Yeah どうしてだ。 (Dōshite da.) |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Naomi: That sounds so masculine. |
| Peter: Yeah. What would a female teacher say? |
| Naomi: どうして？ (Dōshite?) |
| Peter: Just the intonation. |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: One more time. |
| Naomi: どうして？ (Dōshite?) |
| Peter: Rising up there at the end. Then we have in the next line |
| Naomi: 面白そうだから (Omoshiro-sō dakara) |
| Peter: It – as it looks interesting |
| Naomi: 砂漠に行ってみたいんです。 (Sabaku ni itte mitai n desu.) |
| Peter: I’d like to try and go to the desert or as in the translation, because it seems interesting, I want to go to the desert to see what it’s like. Two points here. One is, seems. Gives the appearance and for this, to accomplish this, we use そう、そ・う (sō, so u). In this case, we have 面白そう (omoshiro-sō). This is an I-adjective. So the way we combine そう (sō) with this I-adjective is, we drop the |
| Naomi: い (I) |
| Peter: And add |
| Naomi: そう (sō) |
| Peter: So 面白い (omoshiroi) becomes |
| Naomi: 面白そう (omoshiro-sō) |
| Peter: 面白い (omoshiroi) is “interesting”. 面白そう (omoshiro-sō) “looks interesting.” |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: Seems interesting. |
| Naomi: 暑い (atsui) which is “hot”. “Looks hot,” “seems hot” is |
| Peter: 暑そう (atsu-sō) |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。 (Sō sō sō.) |
| Peter: So the desert 暑そう (Atsu-sō) looks hot. |
| Naomi: そうですね。寒い (sō desu ne. Samui) is cold and looks cold, sounds cold is |
| Peter: Oh this is a trick question because outside it can look 寒そう (samu-sō) but food that’s got cold can |
| Naomi: ああ、冷たそう (Ā, tsumeta-sō) |
| Peter: Looks cold. |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: So trick question Naomi-sensei ずるいです (Zurui desu) very tricky of you. |
| Naomi: よくできました。 (Yoku dekimashita.) |
| Peter: Then this ～てみたい (~te mitai) is you want to try to do something that you maybe haven’t done before. So she is curious about this as she’s never been there. So “I want to try and go to the desert.” Next line we have |
| Naomi: 大変な所だぞ。 (Taihen na tokoro da zo.) |
| Peter: It’s a really rough place. |
| Naomi: 暑いし (Atsuishi) |
| Peter: It’s hot. |
| Naomi: 乾燥するし (Kansō surushi) |
| Peter: Dry. |
| Naomi: 雨は降らないし (Ame wa furanaishi) |
| Peter: Doesn’t rain. |
| Naomi: 夜は寒いし (Yoru wa samuishi) |
| Peter: And at night it’s cold among other things. Now here, there is a list and after the adjectives and after the things he was talking about, he attached し (shi) meaning that’s not all. There is more to it. It’s hot and there are snakes. It’s dry and there are scorpions. It doesn’t rain and there is no water. Kind of like more to everything he is saying. He hasn’t been to Vegas 彼はベガス行ったことないですね。確かに。 (Kare wa begasu itta koto nai desu ne. Tashika ni.) This teacher hasn’t been to Vegas. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: エアコンもあるし・ (eakon mo arushi) |
| Naomi: スロットもあるし。 (Surotto mo arushi.) |
| Peter: 水、飲み放題ですし。 (Mizu, nomihōdai desushi.) |
| Naomi: いいビュッフェはあるし。 (Ī byuffe wa arushi.) |
| Peter: Vegas, Viva Las Vegas. And then we have |
| Naomi: 喉がカラカラになっても、水が飲めないんですか？ (Nodo ga karakara ni natte mo, mizu ga nomenai n desu ka?) |
| Peter: If you are dying of thirst, can you find water to drink? So the first part is |
| Naomi: 喉がカラカラ (nodo ga karakara) |
| Peter: Onomatopoeia カラカラ (karakara) |
| Naomi: カラカラ (karakara) |
| Peter: The set phrase for “thirsty” is |
| Naomi: 喉が渇いた (nodo ga kawaita) |
| Peter: Thirsty but here we have a more, how can we say, colorful way of expressing one’s thirst. |
| Naomi: Colorful way そう、まさにそうですね。 (Sō, masani sō desu ne.) Exactly. |
| Peter: So if you say 喉がカラカラ (nodo ga karakara) it’s very clear that you are thirsty but it’s actually short for 喉がカラカラになってる (nodo ga karakara ni natteru). |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: So it’s in the state of being カラカラ (karakara) which means “dry.” |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: But if you give just the first part, that will be okay too… |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: So you could just say 喉がカラカラ (nodo ga karakara) |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: And then rest is inferred. |
| Naomi: おなかがペコペコ (Onaka ga pekopeko) is a good phrase too. |
| Peter: I am really hungry. |
| Naomi: は。 (Wa.) Starving. I am starvin marvin みたいな感じです (mitaina kanji desu). |
| Peter: And this too is short for ～になってる (~ ni natteru.). |
| Naomi: はい、そうです。おなかがペコペコになってる。 (Hai, sō desu. Onaka ga pekopeko ni natteru.) |
| Peter: Yeah but sometimes you can use おなかはペコペコです (Onaka wa pekopeko desu) |
| Naomi: ああ、そうですね。 (Ā, sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Does the same work for カラカラ (karakara) |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: 喉がカラカラです。 (Nodo ga karakara desu.) |
| Naomi: はい。喉がカラカラです。おなかがペコペコです。 (Hai. Nodo ga karakara desu. Onaka ga pekopeko desu.) |
| Peter: So both work here |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: So here it’s ～になっても (~ ni natte mo) and if you recall ても (te mo) is “even if.” So “even if literally throat in a state of being カラカラ (karakara)” which is “dry.” So even if you are dying of thirst |
| Naomi: 水が飲めないんです・ (Mizu ga nomenai n desu) |
| Peter: You can’t drink water? Pay attention to the intonation there, you can’t drink water is the question. Here the ～んですか？ (~ n desu ka?) is increasing the politeness level. It’s not acting as a verb or anything in the sentence. It’s just increasing the politeness level. The real thing in there is, the verb in this sentence is 飲めない (nomenai) which is the negative of the potential of to drink. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: 飲む (nomu) “to drink” becomes |
| Naomi: 飲める (nomeru) |
| Peter: “To drink” and then we have the negative form |
| Naomi: 飲めない (nomenai) |
| Peter: “Can’t the drink, water can’t drink.” Literally “throat becomes in a state of being dry even if water can’t drink?” So even if you are dying of thirst, you can’t drink and that you, the subject is inferred. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Then we have |
| Naomi: 難しいかもしれないな。 (Muzukashī kamo shirenai na.) |
| Peter: “It may be difficult.” This な (na) here just adding emphasis as the teacher is kind of speculating while he is answering 難しいな、かもしれないな (muzukashii na, kamo shirenai na) Like I think so but I am not 100% sure. Then we have |
| Naomi: そんな！ (Son'na!) |
| Peter: That’s and you kind of infer that she’s thinking very bad thoughts, horrible things about the desert. |
| Naomi: 先生、私やっぱり行きたくないです。 (Sensei, watashi yappari ikitakunai desu.) |
| Peter: I don’t want to go after all. So interesting story here but more than the story, lots of interesting things inside this conversation. |
| Naomi: そうですね。そうですね。「喉がカラカラ」はいいフレーズですね。 (sō desu ne. sō desu ne. `Nodo ga karakara' wa ii furēzu desu ne.) |
| Peter: お腹がペコペコ (onaka ga pekopeko) |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: 喉がカラカラ (nodo ga karakara) |
| Naomi: はい。 (Hai.) |
| Peter: And then following with desu is easier. |
| Naomi: そうですね。それから「面白そう」もいいフレーズですね。 (sō desu ne. Sorekara `omoshiro-sō' mo ii furēzu desu ne.) |
| Peter: Yeah. Looks interesting. So if a Japanese person asks you to do something, you can say ああ！ 面白そうです (Ā! Omoshiro-sō desu) “I will go” or “I will do it.” Yeah, it looks fun. |
| Naomi: うん、そうですね。 (Un, sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: Well yeah, depending on what they are asking about. |
| Naomi: そうね。 (Sō ne.) The way you said 面白そうです (Omoshiro-sō desu) doesn’t sound, you are very interested. So that’s why I laughed. |
| Peter: Well I also kind of thought like, I am going to the hospital to see my grandmother. She just had an operation. ああ！ (Ā!) 面白そうですね (Omoshiro-sō desu ne) Looks really interesting. So yeah depending on what is going to take place. |
| Naomi: そうですね。 (sō desu ne.) |
Outro |
|---|
| Peter: The phrase could be useful or not. That’s going to do it for today. |
| Naomi: お疲れさまです。 (Otsukaresama desu.) |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get complete breakdowns, review with quizzes and download printable practice sheets! Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide